Beryl Bainbridge is one of those authors I have always
wanted to read and I suspect I am not alone. Nominated for the Man Booker prize
five times you know she is no slouch with a pen. So it was pleasing to see her
on the list of books I am to choose 100 from to read in a year with my lovely
man +Daniel. We are both realising that we are on track to complete the task
although it is early days and already we find that nicer weather brings more
chores and less time to read.
I picked this next on the list as it was relatively short
and I could easily carry it on my recent business trip to Cornwall. I read most
of it on the train back. In between glimpsing the brilliant countryside that
particular trip provides. In fact a few times I put the book away after
glancing up to see we were crossing a vast bridge over the sort of picturesque valley
you see in picture books. Stone built farms next to a babbling brook with green
fields leading to forest and sea. Another distraction to my reading time but
one that improved my Instagram output.
Photography is a major hobby and part of my life. I keep
dreaming of one day making it a profession but the jump from regular day job to
erratic self employment seems so vast when we still carry debt on our backs
like a weight of oppression. At least the debt is nearly gone so new dreams can
begin.
I start this blog with that little mundane preamble, as it
is appropriate for The Bottle Shop Outing,
which is a strange little book about mundane people doing mundane things but
having dreams of something more in their lifes. Of course the book is also
about something completely different which is always the mark of a good writer.
There is an awful lot of information packed into 200 pages but Bainbridge is an
artist at allowing just enough information out to fire the imagination and
ensuring your head fills with more detail than she ever offers.
The story is of two women in their early thirties who share
a bedsit in London and have secured a job at an Italian run bottle shop. Most
of the other workers have been brought over from a small Italian village to
work for the wealthy Mr. Paganotti and speak little English. In fact their
dialogue is so colloquial that the Italian owner hires a translator for
disputes. The Italian workers see their boss as their saviour and would never
say a word against him or the deplorable working conditions and pay. This is
the obvious reason he has accrued wealth.
The two women are thin Brenda who allows herself to be
subservient, and the luscious and larger Freda who has aspirations to be a
movie star and marry a man of wealth. To say they are an odd couple is an
understatement. Whereas the male version of that moniker relied on slap stick
for humour, The Bottle Shop Outing is
a much darker affair where the jokes come at the expense of another character’s
dignity.
Both women are sure how others see them and both are wrong. It is this expert unravelling of their true selves while being
privy to their slightly deluded self perception that makes Bainbridge a master
of her craft. In peeling behind the everyday bigotry and prejudice that the
characters present she is peeling back the layers of the society in the early
70s. Much of the humour is set within the language and cultural differences
between the two English ladies and the Italian workers. As well as a burly
Irishman. All the while the jokes are laid at your feet and you are unsure
whether to laugh or be embarrassed. Layered throughout this dark humour is an
extraordinary tension that something is going to go terribly wrong.
The outing in question is a bus trip to a stately manor and
the whole factory has awoken with possibility. While Freda presumes that
everyone wants her, it is Brenda in her meek subservience that attracts more
attention. Freda is horrible to her friend because of this but then Freda is
fairly horrible to everyone in her self opinionated righteousness. The Italians
see the day as a day of great freedom and little by little it is revealed that
the company is not as generous as it first seems with a Sunday being chosen and
everyone putting in to pay for the bus and food.
Nothing happens as it should and the outing itself is
nothing that is planned. Many of the workers miss out on the day and those that
make it end up with a day of farce and tragedy that will change the lives of
some forever. Part of the humour is that keeping face and social position is as
important for some as change is for others. When we are afraid of change it
tends to be thrust upon us.
Much of the story appears to be the preparation for the big
day out but in reality is just a chance for us to get to know the characters
and have a bird’s eye view into not how many people had to live in London in
the 70s but the inner workings of these people’s minds and ultimately
ourselves. It is not always nice viewing as we get to see the difference about
how we are seen and how we see ourselves. Most of all how we treat others based
on what we think they are.
There are some excellent scenes with love fumbling in
unusual places and too many people in the bedsit can create all sorts of
mayhem. Especially when a gun toting mother in law shows up to put the wind up
Brenda for leaving her drunken abusive husband. Brenda really is the saddest of
the group. Brought up with manners so impeccable that she can only say no when
she truly wants something and has to say yes whenever she doesn’t want to for
fear of offending.
Despite her obvious weaknesses we are constantly reminded
that she has left her husband. A courageous thing to do at the best of times
but there is no applause for this act as she is judged but what people see and
not by what she has done. Bainbridge has stated that this character was based
upon herself that probably accounts for the darkness of the honesty shown Brenda.
The outing occurs and the bad thing brewing occurs and thus
begins an even darker part of the book as all the early character flaws and
fears are the basis for covering up a tragedy that befalls the group. The
humour is more biting as social appearances are pushed to the limit while at
the same time adhered to in a traditional sense but in the most surreal
circumstances. I found myself laughing at the silliness of the people but
gasping at the seriousness of the situation. Those socially embedded responses
can be used to cover a multitude of sins.
Bainbridge is artful enough to provide a mystery and even
directs the answer but never actually brings it up in an open scenario. All the
clues are there. All the players have played the part expected of them. Only
Brenda is the potential loose canon but she chooses the easier path. To allow
things to lie and to return to her parents. After her ex in-laws refuse her
advances.
Flawed characters in dank settings with no real hope within
their trapped existence but handled with such skill by a masterful practitioner
in the art of writing that the darkness is tinged with lightness and a love
for life that endears you to the tale and the people within.
When I finished it felt complete.
Never heard of her... Thanks
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